Process for the manufacture of clothing articles, more particularly shoes



Feb. 5, 1963 E. ORLANDO 3,076,215 PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHING ARTICLES, MORE PARTICULARLY SHOES Filed July 15, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a INVENTOR E Ur/czndo ATTOK E55 Feb. 5, 1963 E. ORLANDO 3, 7

PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHING ARTICLES, MORE PARTICULARLY SHOES Filed. July 15, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TNVEN' O fl United States Patent PROCESS FOR This invention relates to a process of manufacturing articles of wearing apparel and accessories, such as shoes, bags, pocketbooks, boots and the like.

The upper portions of boots and similar articles are now made of leather or other suitable material, and these upper portions consist of several parts which are sewn together so that they form overlapping seams. The use of such seams results in thickened portions which are sometimes uncomfortable in use and which might tear under the action of various forces exerted upon them. Furthermore, a lining is usually necessary to hide the seams.

Present day manufacture of boots requires a substantial amount of work for sewing together with the necessary precision the various parts of the boot upper.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a method which will eliminate the above-mentioned drawback.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent in the course of the following specification.

The objects of the present invention maybe realized by cutting the opposed edges of the elements to be joined together in the form of an incision which results in creating two lips, one of which constitutes an upper layer of the material and the other one constitutes the lower layer of the material.

This cutting operation can be carried out in any manner or form and may follow a straight line or a curved line, and may be applied to parts made of leather, synthetic materials or the like. The method is not limited to the manufacture of boots and shoes, but may be applied to various articles of clothing and accessories, such as pocketbooks, ladies bags, and many other items.

The described incision or cutting operation is carried out upon the articles which are to be joined by seams and may be applied to one or both of such articles. Obviously, the cut may be varied in depth, the thickness of the resulting lips and the biasing depending upon the manufacturing requirements.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the lower lips of two elements cut in the above-described manner, are sewn together, while the upper lips are used to cover or conceal the seam resulting from this sewing. According to a further embodiment, these upper lips may be provided with a suitable design or other ornamentation.

Furthermore, it is possible to cut in the described manner one element only and to fold the two lips of such elements against each other, thereby eliminating the use of a lining, or one of the lips, preferably the lower one, may be turned inwardly against the upper one so as to conceal the fold.

The above-described process has numerous abvantages, among which are: simplicity of and quickness in manufacture, as well as the saving of material, since the borders which are to be joined do not have to overlap or be provided with strips. Furthermore, the folded lip may be used as a holder for a flexible or elastic band, strips, laces, metal wires, various ornamentation and the like, so as to provide a most effective finished article.

Another important characteristic feature of this invention consists in that by folding the two lips one against the other, an article having two so-called right faces is provided.

The invention will appear more clearly from the follow- 3,076,215 Patented Feb. 5., 1963 ing detailed description when taken in connection with. the accompanying drawing, showing, by way of example, preferred embodiments of the inventive idea.

In the drawing:

Each of the FIGURES 1 to 10 illustrate diagrammatically and in perspective views different modifications embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIGURE 11 shows in a perspective view a method of attaching a lower lip of an upper shoe portion to the inner sole of the shoe.

FIGURE 12 is a perspective view of a slipper and illustrates the use of the method shown in FIGURES 4 and 9.

FIGURE 13 is a perspective view of a ladys shoe and illustrates the use of a method shown in FIG. 6.

FIGURE 14 is a perspective view of a shoe upper and illustrates the application of the method shown in FIG- URES 3 and 4.

FIGURE 15 illustrates a finished shoe provided with a shoe upper shown in FIG. 14.

As already stated, in carrying out the present invention it is possible to use leather or any other suitable material which is not rigid and which is of comparatively small thickness. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the edges of this material may be cut at locations designated as 1 and 2 by cuts extending to the depth shown by dotted lines in FIG. 10, so as to provide an upper lip and a lower lip.

FIGURE 1 shows an element 3, such as a portion of a shoe upper which is cut to form an upper lip a and a lower lip b. Then a portion of the upper lip a is cut off along the line parallel to the edge of the lower lip. Thereupon the lower lip b is folded upon itself and its edge is inserted into the space between the two lips a and b. Due to this arrangement the lip a will partly overlap the lip b. Then the two lips a and b are joined together by a row of stitching 4. Due to this arrangement the folded portion of the lower lip b forms a tubular sheath or holder 5.

Any suitable member, such as a shoe lace, a piece of wire, and elastic strip or the like, may be inserted into the holder 5. The remaining portion of the upper lip may be treated to constitute a lining.

According to the method shown in FIGURE 2, an edge of an element such as a piece of leather, is cut to form the two lips a and b and then a separate piece 6 having an elongated portion 6 is connected with the element by inserting the portion 6' into the space between the lips 11 and b. Then the member 6 is connected with the lips a and b by means of the row of stitching 4.

According to the method shown in FIG. 3, the two lips a and b are cut in the same manner and then two parallel spaced rows of stitching 7 and 8 are provided with the stitching 7 being located close to the inner ends of the lips, while the stitching 8 is located close to the outer edges of the lips. Thereupon, a member 6" which may be a string, a piece of iron wire, an elastic strip, a band or the like, is inserted into the tubular clement formed by the lips a and b and located between the stitches 7 and 8.

FIGURE 4 shows a method of joining two pieces 9 and 10 which may constitute portions of a shoe upper. According to this method only the member 10 is cut to provide an upper lip and a lower lip. Then the lower lip is cut to provide an edge which is covered by the upper lip. Finally, the lower lip is sewn to the member 9 by stitches 11. It is apparent that the upper lip in this case will constitute a covering for the stitching.

According to the construction shown in FIG. 5, a piece of leather, or the like, is cut to form an upper lip a and a lower lip b. The upper lip a is perforated and then an ornamental strip or ribbon 12 is drawn through the perforations. The lower lip b does not have any perforations.

In the construction shown in FIG. 6 a piece of leather, or the like, is provided with superposed lips a and b at two opposed edges. The upper lip a located at the left of FIG. 6 is folded into the space between the two lips. On the right hand of FIG. 6 the lower lip b is folded into the space between the two lips. In this construction the outwardly extending lips serve as a lining.

In the construction shown in FIG. 7 the superposed lips a and b are formed only upon one edge of the piece of leather, or the like, and then both lips are folded against each other, whereupon they are sewn together by a row of stitching. Thus a so-called double-face is formed.

According to the construction shown in FIG. 8, two pieces 9' and 10' are cut to provide opposed pairs of lips and the edges 13 and 14 of an ornamental border 15 are inserted between these lips. Thereupon, the member 15 is sewn by rows of stitches to the lips, the stitches extending through the portions 13 and 14 of the lips. Thus, only the upper lips are sewn to the portions 13 and 14, while the lower lps may be attached by glue or the like.

According to the cons ruciion shown in FIG. 9, two opposed elements 9" and 10" are provided with lips a and b of the same size and only the lower lips b are joined by a seam 11. Both sides of the seam are covered by the two upper lips a which, however, do not overlap each other.

FIGURE 11 illustrates the application of the method of the present invention to the construction of shoes. In this case the lower lip b is sewn to the inner sole 13, while the upper lip a may be folded and then sewn to the main sole 19 of the shoe.

FIGURE 12 shows a slipper wherein the upper portion is joined with the side portion by the method illustrated in FIG. 4. The left hand portion of FIG. 12 illustrates the joining of two pieces of leather by the use of the method shown in FIG. 9.

F1 GURE 13 illustrates a ladys shoe, wherein the upper border 20 is finished in accordance with the method shown in FIG. 6. The inner lip 21 is cut so that the shoe is finished without the necessity of a lining. FIG. 13 illustrates that an edge at the interior portion of the shoe has been bent downwardly to illustrate the folded edge 22.

FIGURE 14 shows a shoe upper, wherein the method of FIGURE 4 has been applied for joining pieces of 4 leather, and the upper part of the shoe illustrates the method shown in FIG. 3.

FIGURE 15 illustrates the same shoe in a finished form.

As already stated, the illustrated methods can be used in several fields of manufacture and are not limited to the manufacture of shoes or other pieces of clothing.

What I claim is:

1. In the manufacture of articles of wearing apparel, accessories and the Ike, the method of joining two opposed edges of flat bendable elements which comprises the steps of cutling the edge of one of said elements in a direction transverse to said edge to form two superposed lips, cutting an outer portion of the underlying lip in a direction parallel to said edge and removing the cut portion to provide said underlying lip with an edge located under the overlying lip, and then joining by sewing said edge of the underlying lip with the opposed edge of the other one of said elements, whereby said sewing is covered by the overlapping portion of said overlying lip.

2. In the manufacture of articles of wea ing apparel, accessories and the like, the method of joining two opposed edges of fiat bendable elements, which comprises the steps of cutting the edges of said elements in directions transverse thereto to form two superposed lips in each of said elements, cutting outer portions of the underlying lips of both elements in directions parallel to said edges and removing the cut portions to provide each underlying lip with an edge located under the overlying lip of the same element, and then joining by sewing said edges of the two underlying lips of the two elements, whereby said sewing is covered by the overlapping portions of the overlying lips of the two elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,197 Lewellyn et a1. May 11, 1915 1,400,806 Daniels Dec. 20, 1921 1,591,059 Sherman July 6, 1926 2,200,384 Davis May 14, 1940 2,335,360 Russell Nov. 30, 1943 

1. IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL, ACCESSORIES AND THE LIKE, THE METHOD OF JOINING TWO OPPOSED EDGES OF FLAT BENDABLE ELEMENTS WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF CUTTING THE EDGE OF ONE OF SAID ELEMENTS IN A DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO SAID EDGE TO FORM TWO SUPERPOSED LIPS, CUTTING AN OUTER PORTION OF THE UNDERLYING LIP IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO SAID EDGE AND REMOVING THE CUT PORTION TO PROVIDE SAID UNDERLYING LIP WITH AN EDGE LOCATED UNDER THE OVERLYING LIP, AND THEN JOINING BY SEWING SAID EDGE OF THE UNDERLYING LIP WITH THE OPPOSED EDGE OF THE OTHER ONE OF SAID ELEMENTS, WHEREBY SAID SEWING IS COVERED BY THE OVERLAPPING PORTION OF SAID OVERLYING LIP. 